Also present: Dave Corrigan and Randy Sweet of the Fox Waterway Agency of Illinois.

Transcription

1 Southeastern Wisconsin Fox River Commission Proceedings 1 of 8 Commission members present: Dean Falkner (Village of Mukwonago) (Chairman) Alan Barrows (Waukesha County) Chad Sampson (Racine County) Jeff Lang (Town of Burlington) Fred Koeller (Village of Waterford) Donny Hefty (City of Burlington) briefly Andy Buehler (Kenosha County) Andrew Lois (Town of Wheatland) Wayne Jensen (Village of Rochester) Bob Bartholomew (Town of Vernon) Michelle Clark (Village of Big Bend) Bill Hopkins (Village of Salem Lakes) Tom Slawski (SEWRPC) Rachel Sabre (Wisconsin DNR) Jim Pindel (Town of Waterford) (Secretary/Treasurer) Commission members absent: Katelyn Bratz (Town of Mukwonago) (Vice-Chairperson) Ken Miller (Town of Waukesha) Doug Koeller (City of Waukesha) Also present: Dave Corrigan and Randy Sweet of the Fox Waterway Agency of Illinois. 1. At 1:05 PM, Chairman Dean Falkner called the SEWFRC meeting to order. 2. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. Roll call was taken and a quorum was confirmed. 3. Minutes The minutes from the October 12, 2018 meeting were reviewed. Jeff Lang pointed out that his name was missed spelled in the Reports and Updates section and Jim Pindel said he would fix it. It was motioned by Andy Buehler that the minutes be approved and the motion was seconded by Fred Koeller. The minutes were approved unanimously. 4. Treasurer Reports Jim Pindel reviewed the October 2018 treasurer s reports. We started the month with $44, in our Money Market Account. We made one deposit of $56, which was the first payment from ENUM-20. We made two payments $26, to the Village of Waterford for the East Bank Shoreline restoration and a payment of $21, to Waukesha County for the Mukwonago Park Shoreline Restoration. We received $38.86 in interest bringing our Money Market account to a balance of $52, The change to the nongrant funds was the $38.86 in interest resulting in the net non-grant funds available being $40, Regarding the grant funds, four projects the VoW East Bank Shoreline Restoration, the Mukwonago Park Shoreline Restoration, the 2018 Fox River Summit and the Parking Lot & Sidewalk Salting Workshop

2 Southeastern Wisconsin Fox River Commission Proceedings 2 of 8 Old Business moved up into the Completed and Closed Grant Project section. Also Jim pointed out that we added $ to the Birch Lane Shoreline protection project and listed the $3000 that we are providing for the VoW Riverside Launch project. Jeff Lang pointed out that the 2019 Fox River Summit was not listed as a commitment against our grant funds. Jim Pindel said he would add it to next month s treasurer s report. It was motioned by Jeff Lang and seconded by Fred Koeller that the treasurer s report be approved and the motion carried unanimously. a) Fox River Partnership 2019 Summit: Tom Slawski said that planning is still going on and he is still looking for speakers and topics. Tom reminded everyone that the Summit will be held on March 22, 2019 at the Veterans Terrace in Burlington. Jeff Lang said that he thought that we should go ahead and get the dynamic speaker Ray Archeluta to talk about cover crops. Chad and Tom said that they would consider it but probably would go with a disciple of Archeluta who would come in at a lower price. Jeff stated that he felt that this topic was very important and that we should get a charismatic speaker and Chad said that the disciple was a salesman, which requires some charisma, and he was recommended by several farmers. Jeff Lang asked Tom to explain what the Summit is all about for the sake of the two FWA members who were attending our meeting for the first time. Tom pointed out that this would be the seventh annual Summit and that the SEWFRC has supported the Summit from the beginning. Tom said that the Summit is a learning conference where a lot of ideas are shared on things that can be done throughout the watershed. Topics covered range from agricultural to urban and even recreational. Tom said he tries to get speakers from Wisconsin and Illinois and originally the intent was to move the Summit back and forth between a site in Wisconsin and one in Illinois that wasn t too far south. However no good site was found in Illinois and everyone seems to like the Veterans Terrace in Burlington so that is where it has always been held. b) Mukwonago River shoreline restoration at WE Energies Site. Alan Barrows said that he did his final site inspection this last week and found two temporary measures still on site. The temporary sprinkler pipe and a stack of PVC pipes were still there as well as a temporary snow fence to keep the geese out of the area. Alan said he contacted the contractor who said he would take care of removing these items next week. Alan said that he contacted the contractors accounting department to advise them why we have not made the final payment and we will do so once they remove the two temporary items on site. Alan said that WE Energies has requested a summary report on the project including before and after pictures. c) ESR Project disposal sites environmental impact: No one from the WWMD was present. Jim Pindel reported that Graef Eng. has provided a Land

3 Southeastern Wisconsin Fox River Commission Proceedings 3 of 8 Spreading Work Plan to the WDNR who has conditionally approved it. A public hearing on the Plan will be conducted by the WDNR next week Wednesday (11/14/18) at 5:00 PM at the Town of Waterford Hall. Jim Pindel stated that he had a conflict with this timing and so will not be able to attend. Dean Falkner and some others indicated that they might attend. Chad Sampson asked if the disposal site would be WDNR land and Jim Pindel said that the first phase which will be a pilot project were they will only dredge about 30,000 cubic yards of sediment out of the north end of Conservancy Bay, where there is a natural sediment trap, and will spread some or most of the sediment on the WDNR land west of Marsh Road. Jim added that one of the delays was the fact that the WDNR was concerned with spreading the sediment on farmed wetlands and left the final decision on permitting this to the Army Corps of Engineers. d) Schuetze Playground Storm Water Abatement: - Jim Pindel said that he received an from David Burch asking him to remove his name from this project on the agenda, seeing he thought that the project we totally completed. However Jim said that he ed Sara DeBruijn asking for the status of this project and Sara responded identifying two pieces of documentation that are still required. Jim Pindel said that he forwarded this identifying the two documents required to David Burch and Melisa Phillips so that they could provide the documents and he has not seen anything being sent to Sara thus far. e) SEWRPC Survey for Waterford Dam to the Illinois Border Tom Slawski explained for the sake of the two new attendees from the FWA that the SEWFRC expanded their territory down from the Waterford dam to the Illinois border. Tom provided a map for everyone that showed the shoreline erosion sites along the mainstream of the Fox River in the northern section identified by Graef Eng. some years ago and also the sites that were identified in the southern section (the lower 26 river miles) which were identified by Tom in the survey he conducted for the SEWRPC. The survey looked for streambank erosion and monitored water depth along the river. Tom said that he added 40 new priority erosion sites in the lower section of the river. Tom said we are combining the two sets of survey data and applying a new prioritization criterion for streambank protection and water quality improvement. Some of the criteria to be considered will be infrastructure protection like proximity to roads, bridges and utilities including the age of bridges and scheduled roadway reconstruction. Other criteria will be channel position, channel vulnerability, and channel condition. Erosion severity will be judged on erosion rate, bank height, bank length, slope and soil composition. Other considerations will be local vegetation types and condition, riparian buffer ranking positioning lands within the floodway or within 1,000 feet of the edge of the mainstream. A final consideration will be the ease of implementation looking at public versus private lands, accessibility, cost, and landowner willingness to participate. Tom showed a

4 Southeastern Wisconsin Fox River Commission Proceedings 4 of 8 large map of the 40 HUC12 sub basins and Tom said that Andrew Craig of the WDNR provided the nonpoint phosphorus loading in lbs. /year for each of the basins. Tom used this data to calculate the phosphorus loading per acre for each section. The map depicted the basins with low medium and high phosphorus loading in different colors. Tom said that while fishing on the Fox River this summer he noticed that the water that comes in from the Wind Lake cannel is extremely dirty and dark colored. Tom said that this might be an area that needs some work to eliminate the sediment infusion whatever the source might be. Jim Pindel pointed out that the cannel was mechanically dredged this last winter and it is possible that the cannel has not stabilized yet. Fred Koeller said that when they did the dredging they did not incorporate the appropriate slope on the banks which of course can add to the erosion. Fred did say that it has been only recently that they have decided to enforce the 20 setbacks along the cannel. Fred also said that in the past whenever there is a heavy rain event you can observe the darker color of the water coming out of the cannel. Fred said that it is a great opportunity to help clean up the Fox River by addressing the Wind Lake cannel. Tom said that he is getting close to having the priority maps available to the counties and for us to be used to decide what to do and where to do it. Alan Barrows said that he could incorporate these maps into his county map system and possibly generate mailing to landowner who are identified on these maps making them aware of the need and advising them of what grant funds might be available. Lastly Tom covered the Fox River Width comparison graphs he provided. The graphs show the stream bank width from an 1836 survey compared to today s data throughout our area of responsibility. Although the graphs are preliminary Tom said that they show that the river has not changed appreciatively over this time period. There is no evidence of extreme bank erosion and in fact north of the Waterford impoundment the river has actually become narrower. Jim Pindel said that he thought that the first dam creating the Waterford impoundment went in in 1836 and he questioned whether the 1836 stream bank width data was taken before or after the Waterford dam was installed. Tom said that the notes on the 1836 data provided the exact dates that the data was taken and so he should be able to find out if the data was taken before or after the dam. Tom said that it might be possible to overlay Dean Falkner s water quality data on these maps to see if it provided any additional insight. f) Birch Lane Shoreline Protection Project: Chad Sampson said that the project is completed. For the sake of the new attendees from the FWA, Chad explained that the project amounted to a 50 of shoreline with a steep slope and a failing sea wall. On October 23 they worked with contractor to select rock for the right sizes and also color to make it look better. On October 24 and 25 th the contractor delivered the rock and other required materials to the site and removed the sea wall. The contractor installed geotextile fabric and then placed the large rocks on the bottom and interlocked the smaller rocks on top and then did a native seed planting in the first 15 to 20 of the shoreline.

5 Southeastern Wisconsin Fox River Commission Proceedings 5 of 8 The backyard of the property had to be fixed up because of damage done during the wet conditions. Chad said that the property owner is very happy with the project results and his neighbors are excited about it and might want to do something similar. The total cost was $26,500 of which we provided $18,000 and the landowner provided the rest. Chad said the work was completed on October 26 th and he provided the invoices and other documentation to Jim Pindel just before the meeting started. g) VoW Riverside Dr. Launch Fred Koeller. Fred said that the project is on the official project list of the Village for next year. Fred also said that he agreed with the suggested change in the project name to Jefferson Street Park and Launch. Fred said that the cost of engineering is in the Villages budget and that they were considering purchasing the homes across the street within the Village. They would then remove the houses move Jefferson St. over and use the expanded area for parking for cars and boat trailers. Fred ended by saying that the project is moving along for completion next year. New Business a) Consideration of developing a USEPA 9-Key Elements Watershed Management Plan Dean Falkner said that they have been having subgroups meeting and they have been discussing what to do. Dean said they are considering downloading a 9-Key Elements Plan to see how that might be reinvented. For another project, Alan Barrows created a map of all the nonpoint source loading in our entire area and we have the monitoring data for essentially the entire run of the river. Dean said that Chad is working with Andrew Craig on a STEPL information transfer to get the loading and removals to get a 9-Key Elements Plan. Dean told Tom Slawski that they are having a subgroup meeting on 11/27/18 at 1:00 PM. Alan Barrows pointed out that he and Tom Slawski and several WDNR people have a conflict at that time. The conflict concerns a lake with a dam failure and will involve about 50% of the people that should be at the 9-Key Elements meeting. Dean said he would do a survey of the people involved to choose a new meeting date. Dean said that looking at the magnitude of what needs to be done, $100,000 a year will not do the job, so we must find other means of funding, which the 9- Key Elements Plan might help with. b) Wheatland Fox river Park Shoreline Stabilization Project Dan Treloar Dan was not present, so Andy Buehler passed out copies of the presentation prepared by Dan. Jim Pindel stated that he received a copy of the presentation from Dan and forwarded it to all the commissioners the same day. The project will henceforth be known as the Oakwood Shores Park Streambank Stabilization Project. The presentation included an aerial view of the project site and pictures of the eroded shoreline as well as a timeline for completion of the project starting in spring of 2019 and ending in the fall of Andy passed around a tablet that showed a video of the shoreline as passing by on the river. Andy pointed out that this site is one of the spots marked on the map Tom Slawski showed earlier as a priority

6 Southeastern Wisconsin Fox River Commission Proceedings 6 of 8 erosion area. Andy also pointed out that this location was one of the sites he listed earlier this year when we were working on the budget. The site runs from a drainage ditch that comes into the river, south for 200. The 90% cost share requested from the commission amounts to $32,400 with a 10% cost share by the Kenosha County Soil & Water Resource Management Program of $3,600, coming to an overall project cost of $36,000. Looking at the condition of the stream bank it looks like a necessary project. We will review the project acceptance criteria and vote on accepting the project for grant funding at our December meeting. Alan Barrows asked if Kenosha was going to do the engineering themselves or use a consultant and Andy said they will use a consultant. Alan also asked if the county would do the work themselves or hire a contractor and Andy said they will use a contractor. Dean Falkner said that additional funds may be available for this project from a river management grant, however there is concern that this might be considered double dipping. Rachel Sabre said that the river management grants must be applied for in February and they are for $50,000 each and are very competitive. Reports and Updates a) Report on activities of Fox Waterway Agency (FWA) of Illinois Randy Sweet the chairman of the Advisory committee of the FWA was present and said he expects to attend our meetings whenever Joe Keller cannot attend. Randy said he was impressed by the amount of data we have taken, especially the data gathered by Tom Slawski during the survey he did for SEWRPC. Randy said that the collective group we have of Counties, municipalities and WDNR is something they don t have but need. Randy said he is in charge of developing their watershed plan. Randy said he is just in the formative stage of the plan and needs to define what they will do, how much it will cost and what size HUC s they should include in their watershed plan. The intent is to do a small HUC to establish a templet for the overall watershed plan which he expects will cost over $250,000 and take at least 2 years. Randy said they have had 4 high water events in the last year. Randy said he is concerned about structures like a new Woodman s center going in which will cause 70 to 80 acres of land to be paved over and this runoff will flow into the Fox River adding to their flood events. Randy said that the watershed plan should bring together all the parties in the watershed hopefully to address some of these issues. One of the main things they need to do is reactivate the sponges (wetlands) so they can absorb some of the stormwater during high rain events. Randy said that he expects to have the small watershed plan ready for presentation to the FWA board for their next March meeting. Randy said he will be looking for some grant funds to help with the planning and said they need to move out of the dredging only mode they are in. Randy was asked if there is a stormwater management plan for the Fox waterway. Randy said there is none for the lakes in the Fox River Chain but there are some in areas around the Chain of Lakes some of which are probably out of date, He indicated that this is something that should come out of the watershed plan.

7 Southeastern Wisconsin Fox River Commission Proceedings 7 of 8 b) Possible diversion of City of Waukesha water treatment plant discharge away from the Fox River: No one had anything to report. Jeff Lang pointed out to the FWA people present that he has brought this topic up at some of the FWA meetings he attended. Jeff explained that the City of Waukesha got approval to obtain Lake Michigan water and at some point will stop inputting more than 8,000,000 gallons a day of water into the Fox River. This diversion will have to have some effect on the FWA. Jim Pindel pointed out that during dry low flow conditions this water represents 90% of the flow in the Fox River here in Wisconsin. Jeff Lang pointed out that here in Wisconsin every land owner is responsible for storm water management on their property and asked what is the situation in Illinois. Randy said he did not know but did say some of the counties had storm water management organizations which were responsible within their counties. c) Progress toward designation as a National Water Trail Village of Waterford. Fred Koeller said that he has not had a chance to talk to Barb Messick and so had nothing to report. Tom Slawski said that they are still working on the brochure and still accumulating data. They are working with CMAP the Chicago Metropolitan Area Planners which is the Illinois version of SEWRPC. Tom explained to the FWA people present that the Fox River water trail is intended more for passive use of the river, like canoeing and kayaking. d) SEWFRC Website Alan Barrows pointed out that he noticed that some of the projects we have completed are missing their before and after pictures and so he said these should be sent to Al Sikora. Correspondence a. 10/13/18 from Jim Pindel asking commissioners to mark their calendars for today s meeting. b. 10/31/18 from Jim Pindel with WDNR weekly report showing $5.7 M available for Wetland Restoration projects. c. 11/5/18 from Dan Treloar with attached presentation concerning Oakwood Shores Streambank Restoration Project. d. 11/8/18 US Mail letter from MT Boyle of Racine County stating that the SEWFRC will receive $10,000 in the Y2019 Racine County budget. Miscellaneous Issues Jeff Lang asked to have attendance fees for attendees from the FWA reimbursed by our commission, just as we do for our own commissioners. It was motioned by Jeff Lang and seconded by Andy Buehler that the meeting be closed. The motion passed unanimously.

8 Southeastern Wisconsin Fox River Commission Proceedings 8 of 8 Meeting Closed at 2:39 PM THE NEXT OFFICIAL MEETING WILL BE Monday December 10, 2018 at 1:00 PM. (Meeting Location: Burlington Department of Public Works 2200 S. Pine Street, Burlington, WI.